All Chapters of Rule Number One: My Brother's Best Friend : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

I looked past him to see a man dressed from head to toe in the hotel's distinctive bottle green livery, pushing a cloth-covered trolley upon which was a bottle in a shining silver bucket."Room service?" he offered, inclining his head towards the bucket"Ah yes, of course!" Marco exclaimed, motioning to Drew that he should step aside. And as he obliged, we all watched as the man wheeled the trolley in, produced two champagne flutes with a theatrical flourish and then seized the bottle from its nest of crushed ice."I should go," Drew said, frowning. "Leave you both to it.""Drew...""No, stay," Marco insisted, as though he hadn't registered the sarcasm in Drew's tone. Maybe he hadn't. How was he to know that that was a blatant dig at me? "I'm sure that," he leaned forward to peer at the porter's name badge, "James here could bring another glass?"Drew shook his head. "That won't be necessary, thanks all the same. It's getting late and to be honest, I'm pretty tired. You see, I ended u

I managed another bright smile and started back along the corridor, rediscovering as I moved just how much of me was aching. In fact, I concluded, allowing myself a grimace as Marco disappeared back into his room, pretty much every part of me was sore. No doubt I'd been running on sheer adrenalin for most of the evening, that and the couple of hours sleep I'd managed to grab after lunch. But the excitement of being offered a new job in a foreign land had definitely worn off. Drew's reaction had seen to that.

How much longer was I obliged to stay here with Marco to discuss the finer details of an offer I probably shouldn't have accepted? How rude of me would it be to fob him off with my "actually, I'm really sorry but I'm knackered" excuse and leave? Probably very rude, I decided, heaving a sigh. It still wasn't that late, at least, not by Marco's standards. I knew from experience he rarely turned in before midnight. Could I keep going until then without collapsing in a heap? What ti

"Here you are, bella. But I'm not sure it's much colder, I'm afraid."Shit, Marco was coming back! Bending down, I balled up the soft leather jacket and closed the door, only then realising I had no place to hide it. How the hell was I going to explain where I'd got it from? "Fuck," I muttered under my breath as a waft of Drew's aftershave, both familiar and delicious, assaulted my already reeling senses. "Come on, Sam. Think!"I looked around frantically, my gaze finally landing on my own coat draped across the back of the sofa. And racing across the room, throwing Drew's jacket over my arm as I went, I snatched up my long black coat, threw it over the top and took a wild dive towards the sofa."Oh." Stopping short outside the bathroom door, Marco regarded me with understandable surprise. "You're over there now."Sitting primly with one knee crossed over the other, I gestured to my coat and my handbag as he came to hand me the refilled tumbler. "Just... Just getting these," I said ch

Montague Street was about a mile from where I lived, slap bang in the middle of town. Drew had purchased number twenty-two, a dilapidated and frankly rather ugly two storey building, on moving back to Stow Newton three years ago. He'd intended to do the place up in his spare time, convert it into two flats and flog them off at a profit as soon as possible.In the event, he'd done everything except sell the flats, staying put in the top flat where he'd camped out during the renovation and renting out the bottom flat to a work colleague. It was far too convenient a location to leave, what with its proximity to the High Street, secure off-street parking, the fact it was staggering distance from his favourite pub and also—the cherry on the cake as far as Drew was concerned—that it was two streets away from the railway station.But there was no getting away from the ugliness. It didn't help that the rest of the street wasn't exactly picture postcard material, being comprised of ramshackle

Not looking at me, Drew blew out an exasperated breath."I'm naïve?" It was odd, the sudden burning sensation I could feel in the middle of my chest. A kind of knot, pulling tighter and tighter. "Because I'm daring to believe I could do something better with my life? Because for once, I'm wondering whether I really have to settle for running a maternity wear shop in Stow Newton, or whether actually, there could be more, that I might just get to do what I always wanted? That maybe I could have a shot at being a designer. That maybe, just maybe, I could have something that you've just taken for granted—that I could have a career? That's naïve?""Oh, fucking naïve, if you think Marco Maretti's going to give you all that." His tone was brusque. "Serve it all up to you on a plate, no strings attached? Come on, Sam." He shot me a scornful glance. "Get real. Since when in this world did anyone get anything for nothing?"I stared at him across the breakfast bar, bewildered. "But he doesn't wa